Yanks’ New Additions Torment the Red Sox

BOSTON — After an October of misery watching their oldest rivals win the World Series while they failed to make the playoffs, the Yankees responded with conviction in the off-season, signing four players they hope will tip the scales back in their favor.

They committed more than $400 million to a quartet of stars — Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Masahiro Tanaka — to reclaim their position atop in the American League East. On Tuesday, they put all four on display in their first visit to Fenway Park in 2014 .

The result was as convincing as it was satisfying for the Yankees, who thrashed the Red Sox, 9-3, behind Tanaka’s masterly pitching performance and an offensive show by the three new position players.

Tanaka, who has not lost a regular season game in over 20 months, pitched seven and a third innings, allowing two runs, while striking out seven and walking no one. It was his 31st consecutive regular-season victory, dating to Aug. 26, 2012, including 28 straight regular-season wins without a loss in Japan.

“We seem to learn something new about how he pitches every night,” Manager Joe Girardi said.

In Tuesday’s game, they learned Tanaka can handle Boston’s potent lineup and the high-stakes intensity of the rivalry, even at Fenway Park.

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Jacoby Ellsbury (22) being congratulated by his Yankees teammates after scoring in the fifth against the Red Sox. Ellsbury scored two runs and drove in two runs.CreditJared Wickerham/Getty Images

Tanaka’s night was made easier when the Yankees pounced on Red Sox starter Jon Lester, who surrendered eight runs, and capitalized on Boston’s poor defense.

Ellsbury, who left Boston to sign a seven-year, $153 million deal with the Yankees in the off-season, faced some moderate booing in rapping out two hits — a triple and a double — and scoring two runs. Beltran hit his fifth home run and had two runs batted in, and McCann went 3 for 4 with a double, a run and an R.B.I.

In all, the three combined to go 7 for 14 with four runs, five R.B.I. and four extra-base hits. As a reminder to the Fenway fans of his ability to run and play defense, Ellsbury also made a nice sliding catch.

But the real star was the pitcher who has not lost a regular-season game since August 2012, against the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Using his ferocious split-finger fastball to devastating effect, Tanaka was in control through most of the game. Tanaka’s splitter is a pitch that comes in hard and true at first, forcing hitters to react as if it is a strike. But at the last instant, just as it hits the front of the hitting zone, the ball dives with stunning resolve. Hitters are left flailing at air or tapping the ball down into the dirt, especially when there are two strikes.

“To his credit, he throws a lot of strikes,” Red Sox Manager John Farrell said. “His split is one that presents itself in the strike zone and forces guys to commit. It’s got late action, and you’re going to get swings and misses and mis-hits.”

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Boston’s Jackie Bradley Jr. was unable to come up with a well-hit ball in the second.CreditCj Gunther/European Pressphoto Agency

That is exactly why the Yankees paid $20 million to the Rakuten Golden Eagles, Tanaka’s team in Japan, for the right to sign him to a seven-year, $155 million deal in January.

Of his 105 pitches Tuesday, 73 were strikes, and Tanaka said he was most pleased with the fact he did not walk anyone. In four major league starts, Tanaka (3-0) has 35 strikeouts — a record for a pitcher’s first four starts as a Yankee — and only two walks.

“I’m not surprised,” Tanaka said. “I’m pretty satisfied with the numbers, the two walks.”

Tanaka benefited from an early lead because the Yankees scored twice in the first inning. Ellsbury shook off the boos in his Fenway debut with the Yankees and hit the third pitch he saw off the wall in center field. A fan interfered with it, and he was awarded a triple, and he scored when the next batter, Derek Jeter, singled him home. Jeter, who received cheers in one of his final games at Fenway, also had two hits and two R.B.I.

As has been the case in most of his previous starts, Tanaka had one bad inning. He gave up consecutive home runs to David Ortiz and Mike Napoli and, one out later, a double to A. J. Pierzynski. After that, Tanaka got 10 of the next 12 batters out.

“I was a little bit pumped up today, just because I know how good their lineup is and how small a stadium it is,” Tanaka said through an interpreter. “But being on that mound, I didn’t feel anything special. Maybe down the road, once we get deeper into the season, I will be able to experience something more than I felt today.”

In four starts with the Yankees Tanaka has already experience quite a bit. The only thing he has not experienced is losing.

INSIDE PITCH

Ivan Nova had a magnetic resonance imaging test in New York on Tuesday. The Yankees announced that the results of the test confirmed a partly torn ulnar collateral ligament in Nova’s right elbow and said that surgery was recommended. Joe Girardi said that Vidal Nuno will be the team’s fifth starter.

Correction:

An article in some editions on Wednesday about the Yankees’ 9-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox misstated the number of walks the Yankees’ starting pitcher, Masahiro Tanaka, has allowed in his first four major league starts. It is two, not five.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B13 of the New York edition with the headline: Yanks’ New Additions Torment the Red Sox. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe